


It wasn't quite me, and it wasn't quite you

by readergirl101



Series: Replaced [2]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fusion, Homeworld is Horrible, Off Colors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 13:54:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16766464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readergirl101/pseuds/readergirl101
Summary: “We should name it,” Pearl said, looking up. Ruby blinked.“What?”“The… the fusion. You said you don’t feel like Ruby. And I don’t feel like Pearl. So it must be something else,” Pearl explained. "We should name it."





	It wasn't quite me, and it wasn't quite you

**Author's Note:**

> I love them.

“Pearl!”

Pearl leaped about a foot, nearly dropping the computer screen she held. She whirled around, her shock dissipating when she found the only person behind her was Ruby.

“Ruby!” Pearl clutched the screen against her chest. “What are you doing here?” It didn’t matter much, the storeroom was abandoned except for Pearl, Ruby, and the dozens of cargo crates Pearl was meant to be cataloging.

“Sorry,” Ruby mumbled. “I was off shift and I heard you were down here-”

Pearl’s shoulders loosened, she shook her head, smiling slightly. “No, it’s fine. I just didn’t expect you.” She found herself glancing to the door. She hadn’t even noticed Ruby come in. “You’re… no one will come looking for you, will they?”

Ruby shook her head, seating herself on one of the crates. “Nah. Morganite doesn’t care what we do as long as we get to our shifts on time.”

“What about other Rubies?”

“They don’t care either,” Ruby shrugged. “I mean, not enough to come and look for me.”

Pearl nodded. She knelt by one of the crates, popping it open and recording away the contents. Ruby watched her silently, swinging her legs back and forth.

“It’s sounds nice,” Pearl said finally.

“What doesn’t?”

Pearl closed the chest, fiddling with it a tad more than was necessary. “Having shifts.”

“What?” Ruby frowned. “Oh! Yeah, you don’t have like- shifts, do you? It’s just-”

“I suppose I’m always on shift,” Pearl sat down next to Ruby, abandoning her work for the moment.

“Is it hard?” Ruby asked. “Doing stuff all the time?”

Pearl shrugged. “It’s not all the time. There’s lots of time when Morganite doesn’t have me doing anything. Besides, it’s not like Pearls need rest cycles like other gems do.”

“Rest cycles are nice.” Ruby said. “They can’t make you work if they can’t find you. Well, I’m really supposed to be in the barracks. But anything they would need me to do another Ruby can do just as well.”

“There’s lots of things you can do that other Rubies can’t,” Pearl insisted.

Ruby blushed. Pearl snatched her hand away before their fingers could touch, Pearl leaping onto her feet.

Ruby’s shoulders slumped. “Sorry-”

“No, no,” Pearl turned around to face her. “You’re fine. We just… Ruby we can’t keep doing this-”

“I know,” Ruby agreed, wrapping her hands over the edge of the crate. “I like it though. It’s nice.”

“I like it too,” Pearl admitted. She sunk down onto the floor, far enough away that she and Ruby couldn’t touch. “I don’t feel alone, and I don’t feel like a Pearl anymore. And I don’t know what I- we are anymore. But it’s-”

“It’s amazing,” Ruby finished. “I don’t feel like a Ruby. I don’t feel like there's hundreds of me because they’re aren’t! There’s just,” she waved her hands, trying to illustrate her point, “whatever it is we are.”

“But if we keep doing this we’re going to be shattered!”

Ruby looked away. “I know.”

“We can’t hide it from Morganite forever, she’s not stupid, she already thinks I disappear too often- Or what if someone else sees is? I can’t keep deleting security footage forever-”

“Is there security in here?”

“No, but Ruby-”

“I know.”

For a long time neither of them looked at each other. They both knew they couldn’t keep doing this. It was amazing. Whatever it was, it shouldn’t feel amazing. Whatever it was shouldn’t exist. But it did exist. It existed and they would both be shattered if anyone found out. And for some reason they kept doing it anyway.

“We should name it,” Pearl said, looking up. Ruby blinked.

“What?”

“The… the fusion. You said you don’t feel like Ruby. And I don’t feel like Pearl. So it must be something else,” Pearl explained. "We should name it."

“But… the fusion. It’s not a gem. Not really. Why would it be anything?”

Pearl shrugged. “I’m barely a gem. Why shouldn’t we name it?”

Ruby jumped up, standing on the crate, indignant. “You are a gem! You’re-”

“I’m a Pearl,” Pearl smiled a little sadly. “I’m not sure we really count.”

“That’s not fair. Why wouldn’t you be a Gem?”

Pearl just shrugged. “It’s one of Morganites favorite insults for when I mess something up. That I’m not really a Gem, that I should consider myself lucky they even bothered to make me. That if I mess up again she can have me shattered and replaced within a cycle…” Pearl’s voice trailed off, she found herself looking away from Ruby again. 

“Would she really do that?” Ruby asked softly, “Replace you?”

“I…” Pearl looked back at her. “I don’t know. I… I hope not. I… I don’t think so. If she really wanted to I think she would have done it already.”

Ruby wrapped an arm around herself, not sure of what to say. ‘Well… she’s wrong,” Ruby decided. “You are a Gem. You count at least as much as I do.”

Pearl smiled. “Thank you.”

There was another stream of silence. Ruby had sat back down, her hand running over the gem set in her stomach. 

“Rhodonite,” Ruby said finally. “What if we called the fusion Rhodonite?”

Pearl nodded slowly, letting herself consider it. Whatever the fusion was, it was nothing at all like a real Rhodonite. At somehow, the name still fit. Pearl touched her gem gently, thinking of how different it felt when they were together.

“Rhodonite,” she said softly. “I like it.” She smiled. “Rhodonite.”

Ruby stood up, leaping off the crate. “Rhodonite it is then.” She agreed. “I… I guess I should go. I don’t want you to get in trouble for taking too long or anything-”

“No, don’t!” Pearl urged. “I mean, you can stay. It doesn’t matter how long I take, Morganite already thinks I’m incompetent.”

“You’re not incompetent.”

Pearl smiled, standing up. She picked up her computer screen. She stared down at it before setting it aside again. Instead, she held her hands out to Ruby.

“Dance with me.”

Ruby went to take her hands and stopped. “We’ll end up fusing.”

“I know. We should see if that name we picked really does feel right though. Shouldn’t we?”

Ruby grinned, taking Pearls hands. Both gems smiling and laughing as they twirled their way around the empty room, followed by a flash of light.

The fusion. stopped dancing. She looked down at herself. Whatever she was, it wasn’t a Rhodonite, not a real one. She looked down at her hands all four of them. She was sure the name fit. 

Rhodonite wrapped her arms around herself, closing her eyes. She liked being here. It was much better than being alone.


End file.
